Remote education provision: information for parents
For details of what to expect where individual pupils are self-isolating, please see the final section of this page.
In the first day of remote education, children will have access to Google Classroom on which teachers will post a maths lesson, an English lesson, an additional ‘Topic’ based activity (this could be a lesson that has science, history, geography, PSHE or D&T) and a Current Affairs activity, “Picture News”.
At Whitelands, wherever possible, we match the curriculum posted online with the lessons taking place in school.
Key Stage 1 |
Key Stage 2 |
5 English lessons |
5 English lessons |
5 Spelling or Phonics activities |
5 Spelling activities |
5 Maths lessons |
5 Maths lessons |
5 Times Table or number activities |
5 Times Table activities |
1 Music lesson |
1 Music lesson |
1 Art lesson |
1 Art lesson |
1 PSHE lesson |
1 PSHE lesson |
1 Topic lesson |
1 Topic lesson |
1 Picture News activity |
1 Picture News activity |
1 problem solving activity |
1 problem solving activity |
1 PE session |
1 Science lesson |
|
1 French lesson |
|
1 PE session |
We expect that remote education (including remote teaching and independent work) will take pupils broadly the following number of hours each day:
Foundation Stage |
Up to 3 hours per day |
Key Stage 1 |
3 hours per day (Including 45 minutes of Maths, 45 minutes of English and 15 minutes of Phonics) |
Key Stage 2 |
4 hours per day
(Including one hour of Maths learning and one hour of English learning)
|
Whitelands Park uses Google Classroom, an online platform that allows children to view, complete and submit tasks and receive public or private feedback from teachers on their learning.
All pupils have an individual log-in which maps to their assigned classwork and this is differentiated so that children can only see the work allocated to them. This resource is the ‘Home page’ to all activities, signposting children to other online content that the school provides for additional opportunities.
Because teachers are regularly reviewing pupils work they will see how successful children are in their submissions and can adapt feedback and activities to take account of this. However we encourage children and parents to let us know if they are finding things too hard. Teachers will have regular contact with all children, but this is increased where children need more support.
We recognise that some pupils may not have suitable online access at home. We take the following approaches to support those pupils to access remote education:
Whitelands has allocated sufficient devices to families to ensure that all children have a device of their own to complete online remote education.
Where needed, this has been extended to internet access using mobile hotspot technology.
In the event of any future lockdown, this bank of resources will be re-allocated to ensure full access.
All devices have been configured for Google Classroom and the child who is working with them.
We are also aware that some households will not have resources that a school would have, where possible we have adapted activities or provided things for children to use – e.g. Paper, stationery. This means that no child is disadvantaged and everyone can complete the tasks set.
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
In addition, children have access to Online resources that the school provides as subscriptions for children, these include : Reading Eggs, TTR, West Berks Library, Accelerated Reader, Numbots.
We know that there are plenty of distractions for the children at home, anything you can do, as parents, to support the education of your children will help them - both in that specific learning and to help them to see how you value learning and education.
Teachers will check Google classroom throughout the day checking engagement with learning and providing useful feedback. Teachers record who attends Zoom Meetings and who has submitted work.
Where it appears that engagement is low, teachers will contact children first by Google Classroom, then by a phone call home. Here they will discuss whether there is a problem and to see if support can be provided to improve the amount of work completed.
Where there continues to be a problem, the Head teacher or Deputy Headteacher will contact parents to see how they can help to provide any further assistance or resolve any issues.
Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual children. For example, whole-class feedback or quizzes marked automatically via digital platforms are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others. Our approach to feeding back on pupil work is as follows:
We recognise that some pupils, for example some pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families, and we will work with parents and Carers to support those pupils in the following ways:
Where individual pupils need to self-isolate but the majority of their peer group remains in school, how remote education is provided will likely differ from the approach for whole groups. This is due to the challenges of teaching pupils both at home and in school. However we will use Google Classroom to post activities. This will include daily activities in Maths and English linked to the learning taking place in class. There will be another daily activity so that across a school week children will have sessions in Topic, PSHE, Art and Music.
How will my child be taught remotely?
We use a combination of the following approaches to teach pupils remotely:
What happens if my child is ill and can’t engage in the learning remotely ?
We are always working to ensure that children’s engagement is the best that it can be, but from time to time this may dip because of illness. When the school is contacted in a situation like this, all relevant staff will be contacted to let them know. That way you will not be caught up with staff unnecessarily asking you about non-completion of work. We will always seek to stay in touch, so that, if possible, we will be keen to keep contact with all children.